Editorial: Our irresistible, predictable choice

Few tasks can be more subjective than declaring one of millions of citizens of this or any other country to be the outstanding individual of the year. So many people, so many hours, so many achievements. The variables are endless. Success can be professional, social, charitable, creative or financial. It can be spiritual, cultural, academic or sporting. Furthermore, whatever their calling, individuals unavoidably represent generations, regions, even their genders. Apples do end up being compared with oranges.

Yet a need remains, even in lean times, to try to sift the achievements of those who advance their country, their talents and, yes, themselves from this small corner of the world - and to then acknowledge the finest. The single best piece of fruit. That is the task a panel of senior Herald editorial staff undertook this month. Two criteria were established: first, that in 2001 the nominee should have exceptional personal achievements and have displayed a commitment to benefit New Zealand, her people or the world; secondly, that the exercise would exclude national political leaders because of their built-in dominance of public life and the nation's potential for advancement or otherwise.

The list of names which immediately staked a claim to be considered in any assessment of the past 362 days was long. Two sportswomen, world champion youth athlete Valerie Adams and Melbourne Cup and Caulfield Cup winner Sheila Laxon, made the 10-person list of finalists. Two entertainers, the "stars" Neil Finn and Russell Crowe, made the cut.

In a year in which the country explicitly sought answers to how it might make its way economically and socially in a global world (the Knowledge Wave conference, free trade agreements, the GM royal commission), three finalists came from the broad field of "getting us ahead". They were entrepreneur and philanthropist Stephen Tindall, GM royal commission chairman Sir Thomas Eichelbaum and World Trade Organisation director-general Mike Moore.

In business, former Dairy Board chief executive Warren Larsen was acknowledged for his singular contribution towards the Fonterra dairy mega merger. Young Waiuku girl Tarryn Pitzer, whose initiative might well have saved lives on the other side of the world, rounded out the runners-up.

The winner was Peter Jackson. The name was as irresistible as it was predictable. His "exceptional achievement" was far, far more than a long, expensive and critically acclaimed movie version of The Lord of the Rings. It straddled numerous categories of endeavour, from entertainment to "getting us ahead" to the advancement of New Zealand's film, technology and tourism industries.

The feat of simultaneously making three blockbuster movies was rare. But in a proudly New Zealand setting, employing local talent and ingenuity and with the director all the while retaining the humility with which we would like to think we Kiwis are blessed, it was remarkable. The mountain of Hollywood came to this Mohammed.

The global success of The Fellowship of the Ring said something to most of us about the possibilities for this country and its people in a world of big fish normally happy to swim in other hemispheres. It has already provided benefits in jobs, foreign exchange and intangible, priceless publicity.

Peter Jackson is the New Zealander who made it happen. He is the virtuoso whose brilliance and determination helped lift spirits in a year of repeated, inexplicable tragedy. Subjective as the choice may be, it was all but unanimous.

The dissenter's argument was that Jackson's success was so formidable that naming him New Zealander of the Year would be too predictable. That in itself says it all.